


Shooting Star

by Musyc



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Community: dhr_advent, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Professors, Pre-Relationship, Winter, Winter Solstice, meteor shower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-02 19:02:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16792882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musyc/pseuds/Musyc
Summary: Accidentally locked on a balcony. In winter. In Scotland. Sometimes you don't need to see the shooting star to get your wish.





	Shooting Star

Draco leaned on the railing, his arms folded across his chest. "I don't know how many times I can apologize, Granger."

At the opposite end of the balcony, Hermione sighed. "It's fine."

"Obviously I didn't expect that to happen." He glared at the closed door as if he could move it with sheer willpower. A half-dozen opening charms and a rather disgruntled kick had already failed. A glare was all he had left. "If I'd known that's why you had that brick there, I never would have moved it out of the way. I did trip over it, though, so I can't be entirely blamed."

"I said it's fine."

He exhaled sharply, watching his breath float away in a white cloud. "On the plus side, at least it's not _that_ cold out here."

"Malfoy, if I have to say it's fine one more time, I don't know if I'll be able to restrain myself from beating you senseless with that brick."

"That's a bit harsh."

"I am stuck on a balcony, in winter, in Scotland. I am missing the faculty Christmas party. I'm wearing a dress that does not even come close to meeting the definition of warm. I deserve to be a bit harsh."

"It's not as if I did this on purpose. It's your office balcony. You couldn't have told me that it sticks and doesn't open from the outside?"

"I didn't think I'd have to! Of all the places I thought I might end up alone with y-someone tonight, my balcony wasn't one of them."

Draco's eyes widened. The chilly air turned from being an annoyance to a blessing. With his nose and cheeks already red, there was no way she could see his blush at her little stammer. He pretended not to have heard her, though his heart drummed in his ears. "Why _are_ you out here?"

"I wanted to see a shooting star. There's a meteor shower tonight. Even though we're in the wrong moon phase for it." She gestured vaguely at the sky well away from the full moon beaming down on them. "Thought I might get lucky."

She blew on her clasped hands. "My turn. What were you doing in my office?"

Draco chewed at the corner of his lip. His thoughts flew like a Snitch and he grabbed at the first one that got close. "I was going to, um. Leave you a memo about the selkie migration."

"The selkie migration. That happens in March. Well, of course, that makes perfect sense. Skipping out of a party to leave a memo in an empty office regarding an event that doesn't happen for three months. That's totally understandable, must happen all the time."

He snorted. "Does Potter know you're this sarcastic when you're out of his eyesight?"

"You obviously haven't spent much time with Harry if you think _I'm_ the sarcastic one." She rubbed her hands together rapidly and blew on them again.

"Are you shivering?"

"I refer you to my earlier statement on the dress I'm wearing. Of course I'm shivering."

"For god's sake if you were going to be out on this balcony, you could at least have grabbed your cloak." He crossed the balcony, stripping off his cloak as he moved.

"I wasn't going to be out here that long! You--" She went still when he settled the cloak around her shoulders and tugged it closed. "Um. Thank you," she said, looking up at him. "But won't you get cold? That jumper won't keep you warm for long."

"I live in a stone house built by people who believed massive fireplaces are all the heat a man needs. I'm always cold."

"Don't you use warming charms?"

He shook his head, hands jammed into his pockets. "Waste of magic. It's not worth it. It takes more out of you to heat up a room than it does to put on warmer clothes. I'd rather save the strength for something important."

She tilted her head. "I always pictured you as the sort to use magic fairly casually. You know, Vanish something rather than get up to toss it in the rubbish."

"That's not the same thing. That's casual use, pretty light effort. There's a big difference between that and deep effort. Warming charms? I _could_ put one on every room in the Manor, keep them running all winter, make it hot enough to run around the place starkers."

"There's an image," she said, grinning.

He chuckled under his breath. "That would take far more energy than it's worth. I'd do nothing else with my life but charge from room to room, reinforcing the charms, adding on extras, cursing my ancestors for choosing huge and impressive over easy to heat. Apparently frost on your bedsheets built character in the eleventh century."

Hermione's grin widened into a full-on smile. Quickly, she brought one side of the cloak up and covered her face. The thick wool didn't quite manage to muffle her laugh.

"It's a lot easier to just put on warm socks and a jumper. But you know what I mean. I see you writing notes by hand all the time. You _could_ use a Dictaquill," he said.

Her nose wrinkled. "They're so finicky. You have to enunciate everything just right and if the slightest thing gets misheard you have to start all over. It's easier to do it by--"

"Hah!"

She stilled, eyes narrowing at him. After a moment, she gave the smallest nod of acknowledgement. "Fine. I concede the point," she said. The breeze swept a lock of her hair across her face. Grumbling, she slipped one hand out of the cloak to push the hair behind her ear. 

Draco realized what he was going to do, but a hundred centaurs couldn't have dragged him away. "Speaking of a need for warmth. Cold hands when you're trapped on a balcony? Give here."

He took her hand between both of his, curling her fingers gently. He rubbed his thumbs across her knuckles and down to her wrist in long, firm strokes.

"That's not really necess-- oh. Oh, that's nice." Her eyelashes fluttered. She pulled her free hand from the cloak and settled it on his fingers.

He obeyed the silent demand, taking one of her hands in each of his to massage both at once. "I've learned a few tricks over the years."

"If I'd know it would get me an amazing warm cloak and a hand massage, I'd have locked us on this balcony months ago."

"I... that's. Well." He dropped his head. He stared at his hands moving on hers and muttered under his breath. "Was kind of hoping for something more romantic than just this."

Hermione slowly pulled her hands out of his grip. "What?"

"Nothing." He stepped back, looking over the balcony so he didn't have to see her face. Silently, he cursed himself and his long-standing inability to just keep his mouth shut. He hoped she wouldn't question him again but suspected that hope would be in vain. Expecting Hermione Granger not to ask questions was like expecting snow not to fall in Scotland. "How long before someone comes looking for us?"

"Harry usually finds me if I've been gone more than an hour. Not the first time my balcony door got me trapped." She took a step toward him, chin raised. Her hair fluttered in the wind; her eyes glittered like the stars overhead. "Don't change the subject. What did you say?"

"Nothing." He moved back again, but the railing hit him in the thighs. He couldn't go any further. He gripped the edge of the railing, the cold stone biting into his palms.

Hermione walked closer with a relentless set to her jaw. She moved into his space, cloak spreading around them both. She gripped his arms tight and went up on her toes to look directly into his eyes. "Malfoy."

"All right, fine. Look, I followed you out here because I saw you were alone and I thought it was a good chance to ask you out. Actually what I first meant to do was rearrange the letters on your quote of the day board to ask you out but there weren't the right letters and I didn't know where you kept the extras. Then I saw you and--"

She grabbed his head and yanked him into a kiss. Her hands raked through his hair; her lips pressed hard against his mouth. By the time she released him, he couldn't catch his breath.

Draco cleared his throat but it was useless. He knew his voice was going to shake when he spoke. He let it happen. "So. Romantic is an option then?"

"You're an idiot." She kissed him again.

He slipped his arms under the cloak and wrapped them around her waist, tugging her against him. For a moment, he thought she was still shivering, but as he drew her closer he realized the tiny shakes were coming from him. Something - _someone_ he'd wanted was literally in his grasp. He could barely believe it. He never wanted to let her go.

Eventually, though far too soon for his tastes, she dropped back to her heels. Her hands rested on his chest. "Yes, romantic is definitely an option. I'd say it's a certainty." She smiled up at him and took off his cloak. "Here."

"You'll freeze."

"Put it on." Her voice was firm with command, but her kiss-swollen mouth curled in a smile.

Draco obeyed, pushing off the railing to swirl the cloak around his shoulders. The movement released a scent that made him think of blazing fires, old books, and heavy mugs of thick tea. He smiled to himself. It was the scent of Hermione. "All right," he said, resisting the temptation to put his face to his shoulder and inhale deeply. "What now?"

"This." Hermione turned around, backed against him, and pulled the cloak around them both, bundling them in the warm wool. "See? Romantic option."

"Ah." He settled his arms around her. "I see. Very romantic."

She tipped her head back and kissed the underside of his chin. "For further romantic options, I'm going to expect more than casual effort out of you in the future. No socks and jumpers. I want warming charms. Magic."

"Mmm, I think I can handle that. Still not running around the Manor starkers, though. At the least I'm putting on socks."

"You're a--" She squeaked and pointed up at the sky, bouncing on her toes. "There! Shooting star! Make a wish."

Draco smiled. He dropped a kiss into her hair. Blazing fires and old books, warmth and magic. "No need. I already got mine."

**Author's Note:**

> The Ursid meteor shower falls just at the right time to fill my fic prompt! Right at the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. Unfortunately, there's a full moon for 2018's peak meteor viewing, so Draco and Hermione would have a struggle to see more than one or two. Fortunately, one is all you need. XD


End file.
